Valesco Group, a London headquartered European real estate investment manager, along with AIP Asset Management, a Seoul headquartered asset manager, have exchanged contracts to acquire Twin City Tower office building in Bratislava, backed by South Korean institutional capital, for €120 million, making this one of HB Reavis’ largest transactions on the Slovak office market. The purchase price reflects an acquisition yield of 5.75%. The transaction represents the first South Korean investment in the Slovak real estate market.

The advance of diversity and solidification of the retail market is creating attractive conditions for the expansion of global brands, according to the experts of JLL Poland. One such example is the decision made by Urban Outfitters to enter the Polish market.

Colliers has appointed Melinda Kovacs as new Head of Landlord Office Agency for Hungary in Budapest.

Cushman & Wakefield Echinox was commissioned to manage the Eminescu Office building, which has recently been delivered in Bucharest, near Piaţa Romană. This is the third office building that has been taken over for management purposes by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox since the beginning of the year, with the Asset Services department being responsible for the day-to-day management of the building, tenant relationship management, operational supervision, financial services and ownership reporting, through on-site specialists and also from the company’s headquarters, coordinated by Mihaela Petruescu, Head of Asset Services.

During Q1 2019, some 168,300 sqm of warehouse space was completed on the Czech industrial market. In year on year comparison, this was a 20% decrease, but in longer term comparison, the completions level was 25% above 5-year average, according to Colliers International.

Two large transactions in excess of €200 million that closed in Q1 and pipeline transactions of at least €1.5 billion point to the overall investment volume for 2019 exceeding the figures achieved in 2018 in 2019, according to the latest research from Colliers International.  

Orbis decided on the potential disposal of its service activity (asset light entity) and entered into exclusive negotiations with Accor - proceeding with the Company business model transformation.

One of the leading investment advisors of the region is seeing increased activity in Slovakia and Romania and expects further yield compression on these markets. Mike Atwell, Head of Capital Markets CEE and Czech Republic at JLL shared his thoughts on new investments, changing market trends and technology.

In the first quarter of this year, residential developers on the six major markets in Poland sold 16,500 new flats, repeating the result attained in Q4 2018. During this same period, a similar number, 16,800 units, were put up for sale. Poznań and Łódź are experiencing a late boom, as sales on these markets reached record highs in Q1 2019, according to JLL’s latest report.